Saturday, February 25, 2006

GB #21: Alternative Energy Tipping Point?

So, I've been threatening to steal more post in our chatroom, but one at Alternative Source makes for good discussion ('cause it's a good post): when will we hit an alternative energy tipping point?

The very idea that the title of this article suggests may seem a bit geographically arrogant. How could a concept like the use of alternative energy sources, with its global scope, be considered to tip at a given moment? Perhaps, then, this question is too far reaching?

That may be so, but even if it is, there are cues all around us that this resurgence of popularity may be different then the last - that alternative fuel has hit the mainstream and can be considered to have tipped.

Mike offers a thorough list of activities to suggest that we're at or near that tipping point. What strikes me, of course, is a Texas oil man (ok, not a successful one, but still) running around the country proselytizing for renewables has got to suggest that we're mighty close. When his daddy and fat-cat friends are looking to invest, that's another indicator. Obviously, all is not as it seems with these folks, but the general popular acceptance of global warming, and the growing consciousness of peak oil suggests to me that we'll hit that point sooner than later -- perhaps we're already past it?